If you ever had a “move back in with your parents” stage, you have no business judging homeless people. The only difference between you and them is you were privileged enough to have a fallback.
To everyone so eager to cancel someone for a tattoo they got at age 22, a drunk text, a selfie they took in the middle of a mental health crisis:
Show us your laptop.
Show us your iCloud.
Open your entire digital life to your worst enemy. No context. No filter. No explanation.
You won’t.
You won’t because you know what I know. Any one of us, frozen at our worst moment, photographed in our lowest hour, looks like a monster. Looks like a stranger. Looks like someone who deserves to be cast out.
That is not who we are.
My mom and baby sister were killed in a car accident when I was just a kid. Cancer took my brother Beau, my best friend and my rock. I battled alcoholism. I battled addiction. I chose the coward’s way out more times than I can count.
For years I believed the defining chapters of my life were written by tragedy, loss, and shame.
I no longer believe that.
Pain can shape us. Loss can humble us. Failures can leave scars that never fully fade. But none of them have the authority to define us.
And it sure as hell ain’t the critic that counts.
That authority belongs to us alone-the person in the arena.
Every setback presents a choice. Play the victim, or cut the bullshit and take ownership for who we become next.
Life does not determine our character. It reveals it.
Again and again we are asked the same question. When shit happens, what next?
We are not defined by what happened to us. We are not defined by the worst photo, the worst text, the worst tattoo, the worst night. We are defined by the person we choose to become. And by the courage to choose that person, every single day.
So before you reach for the gavel - show us your laptop.
You won’t.
The whole world saw mine. And I am still here. Still becoming. Still choosing. Still standing.
That is the only definition that matters.
Pro tip- never tell a person in early recovery that they look “healthy.” All they hear is “you’ve gained weight and look fatter,” and it can be triggering.
Instead try, “you look so good,” or “You look so much better!”
#recovery#wedorecover#RecoveryPosse
I need a weirdo who will pay my mortgage next month in exchange for feet pics so I can take some time off work and focus on self care. Just kidding. Kind of. 😅
Please keep my family in your prayers. Even though I keep my distance, I still have nothing but love for them.
This isn’t fair and my heart goes out to all of them.
Rest in peace, nephew. You had a smile that lit up every room.
I once had someone I loved and looked up to tell me that they didn’t believe my daughter with Level 3 autism was autistic, but that I was just a bad mom and hadn’t loved her enough.
I’ll be just fine if you don’t like me.
Please keep my family in your prayers. Even though I keep my distance, I still have nothing but love for them.
This isn’t fair and my heart goes out to all of them.
Rest in peace, nephew. You had a smile that lit up every room.